Meet Dr. Jacob

ANNCR:

HUMIRA is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis who are ready for systemic therapy or phototherapy, and are under the care of a doctor who will decide if other systemic therapies are less appropriate.

DR. JACOB:

My name is Doctor Carolyn Jacob. I’m a board-certified dermatologist. I live in downtown Chicago with my husband–and twin daughters who are almost 2. At age 14, I developed a rash on my body that was very itchy and scaly and flaky and my mother took me to a dermatologist who diagnosed me with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

I was told that it’s a chronic condition and we have no cure for it. It was devastating because you don’t want to think, that “Well, what did I do to deserve this? Why does no one else in my family have it, and now I have to live with this horrible skin condition that people can see for the rest of my life?” It was very upsetting.

Having had psoriasis for over 30 years, when we started with treatment, they had nothing that was really great. We had topical treatments and they didn’t really indicate any other… light therapy for me, so the options were slim. So in choosing to use HUMIRA for my psoriasis, I saw how well it was working for my patients and thought, “Well, I should have skin that looks that good, too.”

ANNCR:

In clinical trials, most adults who used HUMIRA for moderate to severe chronic plaque psoriasis saw 75% skin clearance and the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. Your results may vary.

HUMIRA can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for TB. Tell your doctor if you’ve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you’ve had TB, hepatitis B, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. Don’t start HUMIRA if you have an infection.

DR. JACOB:

When I went on HUMIRA, I really saw a change in my skin and everything I had was getting better. I get up in the morning. I do the things I need to do, I spend time with my twins, maybe we’ll take them swimming spontaneously, you know, and on a Sunday morning and I don’t have to worry about what’s going on with my skin. Is there flakiness? It’s great, you kind of forget about it, in a good way. I’ve always been interested in music and I’ve sang in the choir since I was in high school, and so any opportunity that I have to get out to see live music, I’ll take.

Because I have psoriasis, I have a really nice conversation with my patients with psoriasis. I can empathize with them and I think that they trust me a lot because they know I know what they’re going through.

When explaining how HUMIRA works to a patient, I describe it as something that calms down the inflammation inside your body, and that’s what you’re seeing on your skin.

My favorite success story of course involves my best friend from college who has suffered with psoriasis since she was 6 years old. I started her on HUMIRA and her skin became so improved. She was so happy because she didn’t have to worry about all the patches of psoriasis on her skin for the first time since she was 6 years old. And that made me really good as her friend and a doctor.

Now that I’m on HUMIRA, I kind of forget that I have psoriasis until I’m discussing it with patients. Once you see the results that you can get with HUMIRA, you’ll be so pleased with the way your skin feels and looks. With HUMIRA I’ve been able to rewrite my patients’ stories, and mine, too.